Just been out for an ‘engineering drive’ in a late prototype of the Bentley Supersports. The one Derek Bell drove at Goodwood. The development chief says it’s a Ferrari 599 rival. Well yes, it was a wet day on difficult Cheshire roads, and I don’t think a 599 would have kept up.

The Supersports is due on sale late this year. It’s a serious makeover of the Continental GT. Which is why the GT bit of the name has been dropped. It’s 110kg lighter than a GT Speed for a start, which, together with a power upgrade to 620bhp and a faster-shifting autobox, gets the 0-60 time comfortably under four seconds.

The pork has fallen off because there’s no back seat, and the front ones are simple carbon-hull buckets. The wheels and suspension are lightened too.

The suspension is stiffer and better damped. The drive is more rear-biased than before. The rear track is wider so the body even gets new rear wings. The front end looks far meaner, its gobbling intakes channeling extra air to the intercoolers. See? Big changes.

And it feels a lot different. Somehow the sense is of rather more than 110kg having fallen off. There’s a whole new agility: it carves into every corner with urgency and flatness. Get on the throttle and it subtly alters its line, aiming you in towards the apex rather than out away from it. This is no understeering barge. And yes, the 4WD means wet-road traction is immense.rapidshare downloads
Paradoxically this is being billed as the ‘green Bentley’ and not just as the Ferrari-eating Bentley. How come? because it’s the first Bentley to run on biofuel. But don’t worry, you don’t have to fill it with hard-to-find ethanol. You can use petrol and the performance, thanks to some clever engine management, will be equally brutal.

Look, it’s no Audi R8 V10. It’s still a big front-engined coupe that can act the GT when you set the slushbox to ‘auto’ and the air suspension to ‘comfort’. But on this brief impression, it can wear the mask of a supercar when it needs to.

The whole point of a Bentley is to go somewhere quickly and comfortably. This only does quickly. Bentley is meant to be a sporty version of cars Rolls Royce would normally make without turbo charged engines if Bentley didn’t exist.

This car, if anything, is a Gentleman’s racer, and a Gentleman would probably walk straight past it and ask for a continental GT.

The original GT was basically a VW Phaeton underneath, so this new model is a stripped-out trackday-ready VW Phaeton. Hmmm… However it does sound like they’ve put a huge amount of hard work in to remove 110kg and boost the power up to 620bhp.

I can imagine this being as fast if not faster than a standard 599, maybe not the new HGTE but certainly the standard model. The Bentley’s 4WD system will also help with cornering, the extra power gives it a better chance among the top cars and less weight also means better handling.

But the huge new vents combined with the horrible circular headlights means it looks even more ugly, catastrophically ugly infact. Also you wouldn’t really choose a Bentley over an Aston or Jag, unless your a footballer.

This new ‘green Bentley’ has incredible performance figures and has had a lot of hard work put into it, but it is ugly and it’s main rival is the awesome 599, one of the greatest money can buy today.

So at £163,000 it only around £3,000 more than the DBS which won’t be able to keep up with the Bentley. But the Bentley’s main rival – the 599 – is around £35,000 more! So the Bentley’s a bargain in a way. I’m starting to like it even more.

Weird stuff. ‘Let’s make a juggernaut heavy, hyperluxury and superfast coupe and then strip it slightly to make a GT3 version with no downforce.’ ‘Yeah, sensible idea.’ Very brave move, to say the least. They might lose the luxury customer for obvious reasons, and the sporty one in accident statistics. How was the handling in fast corners, Paul? Scary?

if you compare a bentley to an audi you can say a continental is a good everyday car but someone else could say the rs4 or the r8.still looks good just like most bentleys.got the same grill as the continental

I cant see the point in this car, if i wanted something which was fast and uncomfortable why would i go for something that still weighs so much despite the cuts. Even if it lost 500kg it would still be too fat to be any good.

You know Bentley are running out of ways to ruin their own car when front bumper design looks like that of a Vauxhall Insignia VXR. But they needn’t worry – the Premier League will do the ruining for them.

Why don´t you put the stig and some stig´s cousins racing with this bentley, the 599 and other cars that can make the things interesting (like one zonda, the gt-r or the ford gt) in a fast track? There is in portugal a new track, in Algarve. And because some roads in Porugal are difficult you can use that to see how god is the bentley in the road.

i’m sorry but carbon fibre seats? no rear seats, and 100 kg lighter? who wants an uncomfortable bentley? seriously? cuz the ferrari 599 might be 5% slower, but 95% more comfortable now that these “improvements” have been made. and which one would you want?

This car is utterly pointless for a few reasons. The most important being this: A vulgar footballer with a lot of money can afford a variety of exotics. So if he wants a track car he’ll have a Ferrari and he also wants a luxury, go-to-Saville Row-for-a-fitting car, so he’ll also by a Continental GT.

This car is probably not about sales, then. It’s about Bentley making a statement. Several statements in one go, in fact. As such, it’s good. They always wanted to get away from the old RR-years by going sporty and they want to be seen to be green. Their next move will probably be a ‘normal’ GT on biofuel. Or even hybrid?

Paul you’re getting even more sarcastic recently, what’s the matter? Did you get the clarkson flu (N1-V8-A1)?
about the car, I like it, but still don’t feel the rivalry with other car, i mean, it’s a personal thing, but i see the gt line a bit as a class of his own.

WTF???? How can anyone think that this looks good? If Bentley want to do a “serious” makover of one of their cars, then change the initial design, dont just add vents to something that looks as if it should be in black and white!

I work for Bentley and have been up close and personal with the GTSS. Although the seat frames are Carbon Fibre, they are comfortable… In terms of appearance, I thought it was a little odd, until I saw it in person, it’s fantastic to look at…. And, sorry to say for all of the 599 fanboys, the GTSS would muller the Fiorano.

’cause, even if “the GTSS would muller the Fiorano.” proves true, I couldn’t care less, Bentley being not Aston Martin, aka the only British brand that would make me undecided. Of course this has nothing to do about how functional is this Bentley, I’m sure it’s a jolly good car, it’s just too “posh gangsta” for my style.

Of course :) Just said “not me”, didn’t say “nobody will buy this”… it has to do with me being an amateur rower and not a pro footballer indeed.

I mean, if Porsche sells a lot of Cayennes there’s hope for anything that looks better than that.
Of course you also CAN call this car green… if your biology grades in school looked close to those that the average footballer or gangster was getting at intermediate you can. See? see? it does make sense after all.